Call Center Company in Fresno, CA

Fresno, CA (May 11, 2025) – A crash involving a bicyclist occurred Sunday in the Fresno area, resulting in injuries following a hit-and-run incident near the intersection of N Friant Rd and N Friant Frontage Rd. The California Highway Patrol confirmed the incident was classified as a felony hit-and-run with injuries.

First responders, including paramedics, assessed and treated individuals hurt in the crash. The cyclist was reportedly injured and required medical attention at the scene. The driver involved in the collision fled the area before law enforcement could arrive, prompting an active investigation into their identity and whereabouts.

The area where the crash occurred is frequently used by both cyclists and motorists, particularly near the scenic San Joaquin River corridor. N Friant Rd, a route often used by recreational riders and commuters, is known for its tight shoulders and limited separation between bicycle and vehicle lanes—creating hazardous conditions when driver attentiveness lapses.

Authorities have not released a description of the suspect vehicle but are seeking information from the public to assist with the ongoing investigation. Anyone with knowledge of the incident or possible surveillance footage from nearby businesses or residences is urged to contact CHP Fresno.

Our thoughts are with the injured cyclist as they recover from this traumatic event.

Bicycle Accidents and Hit-and-Runs in Fresno County

Bicyclists in Fresno County face ongoing risks when sharing the road with vehicles, particularly on routes like N Friant Rd, where traffic speeds can be high and infrastructure protections limited. While Fresno has invested in some dedicated bike lanes, many outer-urban and rural routes still present serious safety gaps.

Hit-and-run crashes involving cyclists are among the most distressing types of traffic incidents due to the vulnerability of the victims and the intentional flight of the driver. These incidents often lead to more severe injuries as immediate aid is delayed, and locating the responsible party becomes a challenge.

In California, fleeing the scene of a crash causing injury is a felony offense under Vehicle Code 20001. Victims of such crashes may be eligible for victim compensation programs or pursue civil claims once the at-fault driver is identified. Prompt investigation, witness reports, and community involvement are vital in resolving these cases and holding drivers accountable.

If you or someone you know has been injured in a crash, reach out to Local Accident Reports for assistance.

Looking to save money on utilities? Fresno residents have the highest electric bills in the nation, according to CashNetUSA.

The online lender recently ranked the U.S. cities where households spend the most on electricity each year, and three California cities ranked in the top 10.

Fresno was No. 1 on the list, with the average household in the Central Valley city paying $3,123 annually for electricity.

That’s nearly $1,000 more than the statewide annual average of $2,172, according to a CashNetUSA study published March 10.

In comparison, Bakersfield residents annually paid $2,928 in electric bills on average, the study found, and Stockton households shelled out an average of $2,790 per year.

According to CashNetUSA, the average Fresno household spent 4.62% of its annual income on electric bills, making the city one of the least affordable in the United States when it comes to power costs.

As of 2025, the average residential electricity rate in Fresno was approximately 41 cents per kilowatt-hour, according to NRG Clean Power, a solar power company serving customers across California.

“This rate is notably higher compared to California’s statewide average rate of around 33 cents per kilowatt-hour and significantly above the national average of approximately 20 cents per kilowatt-hour,” NRG Clean Power said on its website.

Based on those rates, the solar power company estimated that it costs $205 per month to power a one-bedroom apartment in Fresno and up to $512 per month to light up a four-bedroom Fresno home.

Fresno residents rely on Pacific Gas and Electric Company to power local homes and businesses.

One of the largest utility companies in the country, PG&E provides gas and electric to roughly 16 million people in Central and Northern California. It recorded a $2.47 billion profit in 2024 after earning $2.24 billion the previous year, The Sacramento Bee previously reported.

PG&E customers saw record rate increases in 2024, paying about $400 more annually compared to the previous year, according to The Bee’s archives.

In March, PG&E asked for another rate increase in a filing with the California Public Utilities Commission, seeking to raise utility bills by roughly $5.50 per month for residential customers starting in 2026.

According to PG&E spokesperson Jeff Smith, electric bills in Fresno and other parts of the Central Valley are “often higher than other areas (of California) because of high summer temperatures.”

“Many summer days in the Fresno area (have temperatures) well over 100 degrees,” he said, so “customers use electricity to run their air conditioners.”

On average, more than half of a U.S. household’s annual energy consumption is for “just two energy end uses: space heating and air conditioning,” according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

“That’s the biggest driver of high summer bills in Fresno,” Smith said

Smith said PG&E recognizes that “summer energy bills in the Fresno area cause a tremendous hardship for many of our Central Valley customers,” and said the utility company is “working hard to stabilize bills.”

According to CashNetUSA, these were the 10 cities in the United States with the highest electricity bills -- and how much residents pay each year:

According to CashNetUSA, households in these 10 U.S. cities pay the least for electricity each year:

Here are some tips to reduce energy costs and lower your electricity bill, according to personal finance website Nerd Wallet:

In January 2024, CashNetUSA said, it analyzed data from the U.S. Census data to “determine the states and cities across America where households spend the most and least annually on average on electricity.”

The online lender calculated affordability by location based on the average percentage of annual household income spent on electricity, using median household income data from the U.S. Census.

CashNetUSA calculated these metrics for the 100 most populated cities in the United States and aggregated the data.

On a clear December night in 2011, something strange appeared in the sky above Fresno.

“I was driving home when my family and I noticed three bright orange lights shaped in a triangle,” an observer recalled in an anonymous report to the National UFO Reporting Center.

As they got closer, “another bright orange light” showed up ahead of the trio of lights, the observer wrote. “The strange thing about it (was) they were all moving at the same time and pace. ... It was clear it wasn’t a plane.”

Then, they wrote, the lights “just vanished. It was pretty cool.”

As of Thursday, March 27, a total of 16,735 sightings of unidentified flying objects had been reported in California since the 1970s, according to The National UFO Reporting Center.

In January, there were more than 40 UFO sightings reported in California, including one in Fresno, the National UFO Reporting Center said.

More than 20 UFO sightings were reported across the state in February, according to the center, and 18 had been reported so far in March.

Fresno ranked No. 6 in terms of California cities with the most UFO sightings, according to the National UFO Reporting Center, trailing San Jose and San Francisco.

That should come as no surprise, given Fresno-area residents’ fascination with the paranormal, otherworldly and just plain weird.

After all, Fresno County has its own famous cryptid, the Fresno Nightcrawler, and was once home to one of the most haunted places in the nation, Wolfe Manor.

In 1947, pilot Kenneth Arnold attracted national attention when he reported seeing nine objects, glowing bright blue-white and flying in a “V” formation over Washington’s Mount Rainier, according to the History Channel.

Arnold compared the objects’ motion to “a saucer if you skip it across water,” the History Channel said.

Contemporary newspaper reports misinterpreted this as meaning that the objects were shaped like saucers, the History Channel explained, “leading to the popularization of the term ‘flying saucer’ as a synonym for UFO.”

Since then, UFO sightings have become an American obsession, with many television shows, movies and music focusing on visitors from beyond the stars. Works inspired by extraterrestrials range from Radiohead’s song “Subterranean Homesick Alien” to “The X Files,” the hit TV series about FBI special agents investigating the unexplained that spawned comics, novels and two films.

“People are obsessed with topics like UFOs (because) they deal with that age-old question: ‘Are we alone in the universe?’ ” Michael Banti, founder of Weird Fresno, told The Fresno Bee. “If UFOs are indeed from outer space, then that question is answered and a new one is brought up. What is our purpose in the universe?”

As of Thursday, March 27, a total of 189 UFO sightings had been reported in Fresno from 1953 to 2024, according to the National UFO Reporting Center.

That’s in addition to 52 UFO sightings in Clovis reported since 1968, National UFO Reporting Center records showed.

In comparison, more than 500 UFO sightings had been reported in Los Angeles since 1942, the center said.

According to the center, the earliest sighting of a UFO in Fresno was in June 1953.

An unidentified person reported hearing an “extremely loud whirring, rotating sound” accompanied by a disc-shaped UFO with “white fluorescent-type light completely around the middle of it.”

Since then, Fresno-area residents have reported at least one UFO sighting per month, according to center data, with the most sightings reported on the month of April.

The discussion about UFOs has spread to social media.

“Is anyone aware of any spots in the Central Valley where UFO sightings have occurred?” a Reddit user asked in 2021.

“I’ve never seen anything but have friends and family who swear they have seen unusual things in the sky here,” Reddit user bravo2505 wrote.

A Selma resident shared a similar experience in a comment.

“I was looking up in the sky and saw a dot of light, like an airplane but a little bigger, as bright as a star, zigzag fast in the sky, then zoom off and disappear,” Reddit user tubesocks111111 wrote in 2021. “It was going faster then any aircraft I’ve ever seen fly.”

Even celebrities have gotten in on the act.

NBA star Shaquille O’Neal recalled spotting something strange in the sky in Madera in 1997.

“Right when we passed the fairground, I could swear I saw a flying saucer come down with all the lights and it was spinning and then it took off,” O’Neal told late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” in 2021. “We all looked at each other and it was like, I know it was a UFO. I don’t care what anybody says.”

Fresno television station KMPH-TV, also known as Fox 26 News, said it caught “unusual aerial phenomena” on camera in mid-January, when a tower camera recorded footage of a light appearing to hover over downtown Fresno.

A day later, Fox 26 photojournalist Anthony Guevara said he captured footage of a similar object.

Earl Grey Anderson of the Mutual UFO Network said he could “technically call (the object) a UFO.”

“We’ve seen a few odd things ... strange lights over the horizon at strange times of the day,” said Keith Quattrocchi, founder of Sierra Remote Observatories, a five-acre facility for hobbyist astrophotographers and others near Auberry in eastern Fresno County.

“By definition, some of the things that we’ve seen are unidentified flying objects, because they’re flying, and we don’t know what they are,” Quattrocchi said.

Sam Miller, a technician at Sierra Remote Observatories, said he first got interested in UFOs in 2021, when he saw some odd objects in the sky.

Since then, Miller said, he’s set up extra-sensitive cameras at his Auberry home and worked to compare findings. He also has a YouTube channel where he posts videos of unusual aerial sights.

“These strange lights look like satellites, but the frequency and orientation does not match satellite behavior,” Miller wrote in the caption for one of his videos.

The U.S. Department of Defense releases a yearly report of “unidentified anomalous phenomena.”

“Airborne unidentified anomalous phenomena continue to dominate reporting,” according to the federal agency’s latest report, released in November.

Of the 757 reports the agency logged from May 1, 2023, to June 1, a total of 708 involved objects in the “air domain,” the report said, including balloons, satellites, aircraft and unmanned aircraft systems.

Quattrocchi said he’s received emails from people misidentifying everything from drones to planets as UFOs.

When Venus is visible overhead, he said, “They tell me they’ve seen an orb that’s standing still in the sky. ... It’s a very bright planet that is amazingly bright, and (if) it’s on a really good evening, it really looks strange.”

He said it’s getting harder to discern if UFOs are fact or hoax as technology advances.

“Naval pilots ... have seen things that really we cannot explain in our radar systems,” Quattrochi said. “These things were making very strange maneuvers.”

People can argue, ‘Well, maybe they’re mistaken with what they’re seeing,’ ” he added, but “our radar operators ... (are) saying these things are doing pretty much what the pilots are able to visually see. It’s starting to become a little harder to discern.”

Have you spotted something strange in the sky? You can report a UFO sighting through the National UFO Reporting Center’s website.

You’ll be asked about the date and location of the sighting, as well as how long the phenomenon lasted.

You’ll also be asked:

This story was originally published March 29, 2025 at 5:30 AM.

Expanded Security Checkpoint Opens at

Fresno Yosemite International Airport

Terminal Expansion Public Art Program Unveiled

Fresno, CA – Today, Fresno Yosemite International Airport (FAT) celebrated a FATForward Terminal Expansion Program milestone with the opening of an expanded security checkpoint and public art program unveiling. Passengers traveling through FAT will now experience improved security queueing within a 13,000 square feet facility. Prominently displayed just steps from security screening is a stunning floor-to-ceiling mural titled “Fresno Airport – A Welcoming Adventure” by San Joaquin Valley residents and artists Colleen Mitchell-Veyna and Kesley Gilles.

“The expansion of the security checkpoint at Fresno Yosemite International Airport is a major step forward in meeting the growing demands of air travel in our region,” said City of Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer. “Each year, millions of passengers pass through our Airport, and this project ensures we can accommodate that growth with greater efficiency, comfort, and care. Since breaking ground in 2023, we’ve remained focused on transforming the Airport into a modern, spacious, and traveler friendly facility – one that not only supports economic opportunity but also reflects the pride we have in welcoming the world to Fresno.”

The new security checkpoint layout increases the efficiency of passenger screening with more capacity and capability to operate five passenger screening lanes simultaneously. This expansion adds 8,000 square feet, which shifts passenger queueing from the lobby to within the security checkpoint footprint. Thoughtful elements incorporated into finishes and amenities are reflective of the Central Valley and surrounding area. Newer carpet throughout, a larger recompose area with contemporary seating, and dynamic Flight Information Displays (FIDS) offers passengers an upgraded airport experience.

“The City of Fresno is delivering on the commitments made to improve and expand our airport,” said Councilmember Tyler Maxwell. “As the councilmember representing Fresno Yosemite International Airport, I couldn’t be prouder. Fresno is a destination city—and it’s about time our airport reflected that.”

Beyond the recompose area, passengers are greeted with a terrazzo flooring complementing a river themed pattern embedded into the walkway. This clever design symbolizes the various waterways that flow through the Valley. Dynamic FIDS integrated into wood casings represent the Redwoods and Sequoias found in the nearby national parks.

“With the opening of the Fresno Yosemite International Airport expanded security checkpoint, this is the first time the traveling public will get a sense of the improvements we have been working on for years,” said Director of Aviation Henry Thompson. “This opening begins to provide a glimpse of what is to come later this fall when we unveil the new terminal expansion. Passengers will begin to experience an elevated customer experience and see Fresno moving to the next level to a larger airport and no longer that small airport in the Valley.”

Airports worked in partnership with the Fresno Arts Council (FAC) to develop and implement a Terminal Expansion Public Art Program at FAT. Approximately 15 potential permanent art installation locations were identified within the new terminal expansion. Four “Call to Artists” were issued through FAC for designs that create a welcoming and calming environment for those traveling through FAT while representing the diverse aspect of the land and people of the region.

Mitchell-Veyna and Gilles were selected for their “Fresno Airport – A Welcoming Adventure” mural concept that highlights the beauty surrounding Fresno and the region symbolizing nature, agriculture, community, and diversity.

The terminal expansion total estimated cost is $150 million. The project is funded through a combination of Federal Infrastructure Grants, including Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Funding, Federal Aviation Administration Grants, Passenger Facility Charges, Measure C, Transportation Security Administration Grant, and Airport Revenue Bonds. No City of Fresno General Funds have been used to support this project.

Fresno Yosemite International Airport – Fresno Yosemite International Airport (FAT) is one of the largest drivers in economic activity in the Central San Joaquin Valley. Domestic and international carriers serving FAT offer Valley travelers nonstop flights to Atlanta, Chicago (Seasonal), Dallas/Fort Worth, Dallas Love Field (Seasonal), Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Portland, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Guadalajara, León, and Morelia in Mexico.

Fresno Yosemite International Airport and Fresno Chandler Executive Airport are municipally owned entities operating as a self-supporting enterprise.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram @iflyfresno or visit our website at flyfresno.com.

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It’s time to get out the umbrellas again.

Rain showers and thunderstorms were set to hit the Fresno area starting Monday, according to the National Weather Service.

The Valley had a 5% to 20% chance of receiving half an inch of rain, the weather service said on an X post, with the Sierra Nevada foothills had a 35% to 90% chance of half an inch of rainfall.

“We’re expecting ... between two tenths of an inch and four tenths of an inch of rain for Fresno,” said David Spector with the National Weather Service in Hanford.

Most of that precipitation could fall between midday Monday and Tuesday evening, he said, adding that “a thunderstorm ... cannot be ruled out.”

The last time Fresno saw measurable rain was on Sunday, March 30, when two tenths of an inch of rain fell in the Central Valley city, the weather service said.

On Monday, the Fresno area was expected to see showers and a possible thunderstorm before 5 p.m., with more rain and thunderstorms likely after that, according to the weather service’s latest seven-day forecast.

The weather service predicated a high temperature near 62 degrees on Monday and an overnight low temperature of 44.

Winds could gust as high as 15 mph.

The Fresno area could receive new rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, the weather service said, with “higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.”

Rain is “likely” on Tuesday, mainly after 11 am., the weather service said. About a tenth of an inch to a quarter-inch of fresh rainfall is possible.

More rain could fall before 11 p.m. Tuesday, when new precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch are possible.

Spector said the weather service is expecting 1 to 3 feet of new snow to fall north of Kings Canyon.

“The higher amounts are going to be in the higher elevations in Yosemite (National) Park,” he said. “That’s where we’re expecting 2 to 3 feet.”

Skies will be clear and blue on Wednesday with a high near 62 and a low around 43, according to the weather service.

Thursday will be sunny, with a high near 66 and an overnight low around 44.

On Friday, the high will reach 70 while the low will be around 47.

Saturday is expected to be sunny with a high near 75 and a low around 49, the weather service said, while Sunday’s high will near 79.

More dry, warm weather is expected in the days ahead, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center.

Fresno will likely experience above-normal temperatures and below-normal precipitation on April 8 through 14, the Climate Prediction Center forecast said.

This story was originally published March 31, 2025 at 12:52 PM.